Whoopi Goldberg smashes up her iPhone 4

As the iPhone 4 is tossed in the winds, real and imaginary, of public relations, one of America's most influential commentators admitted she had assaulted, nay, "murdered," her new iPhone.

Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of ABC's "The View" (required viewing by so many who live their lives outside of office environments), confided to her co-host Joy Behar and guests that her iPhone 4 didn't merely keep dropping calls, but generally behaved like, well, a 1972 Datsun.

People couldn't get hold of her, she said. They thought her phone was ringing. She could hear nothing. Then she was on the air with Stephen A. Smith and "the damn thing went out."

This was far more than some antenna problem. She explained: "It threw away e-mail that I got. It didn't take stuff in."

Goldberg, an Apple lover who adores her iPad and says she had no problems with her previous iPhone, seems to have lost a little patience with her malfunctioning iPhone 4.

"I took that bad boy. I opened the car door," she said. Then she mimed smashing it to the sidewalk. She "murdered" it.

Clearly, Goldberg bought a rogue piece. But her revelations come at an unfortunate time, and, particularly uncomfortable for Apple, were addressed to just the broad audience that the company is increasingly reaching with its new products.

It represents how the iPhone 4's problems have seeped through the tech world into the mainstream and that is a place where Apple normally has an exemplary reputation.